outskirts: life and times in charlottesville

Sunny and cool. No sign of snow, rain, sleet, or any other precipitation. Local stations have live reports from the road related to traffic moving along during the morning sunrise. Rather funny.

A student was found dead in a UVA dorm room. An autopsy will be done to look for a reason of death.

A local Arby’s had a car run in to the restaurant - for the 2nd time in one year. In the most recent it was the traditional driver who stepped on the gas instead of the break (a common problem around here). In the first case last year the person did not survive.

A local C-Ville guy went to court on Monday and plead not guilty to charges of child pornography and bomb building.

The police have issued a warning about two fugitives here in town. They have warned you should not approach the gents if you see them, just report them, since there is a good chance you won’t get to do much talking if you try to chat with them.

The city may lower the property tax rate by $0.02/$100. Of course they will then crank up your assessed property value by 25% every year. You do the math. Not that I mind of course…I think it is a good thing.

The local monopolistic gym that continues to raise rates every few months to support the new gym they are building (you know who you are ACAC) is going to open a new private school for local kids for next fall. Hmm…kids are already enrolled. I wonder if the school will be done in time, since they gym they originally promised two years ago still looks a year away from opening (based on prior construction in this area). Maybe all my gym fees have been going to make a school for kids.

Maybe they should have spent the money on better equipment when they bought new stuff a few months back. Much of it is so uncomfortable that MANY have complained about that, so a FAQ was posted about it saying that they are looking in to the situation. Perhaps they should have at least used it before buying it. Sitting on a post for a bicycle seat should have been their first clue.

Small town life rocks.

Current forecast, 2-4 inches of snow over the next 24 hours. No one I know believes this. Weather forecasts around here are notoriously high in predictions. Anyway…I’ll bring my camera tomorrow and see if there are any shots of interest to be had.

Since spring is here I think I’m getting some yard work done by having a hedge planted (13 of the hedge plants), along with some other work. Will it improve the property value? I hope so….since it will cost a pretty penny right now.

I’ve been rather quiet here lately. I’m still debating the future of my life…where I want to live, what I want to do, all that good stuff. In the poll the northwest has a slight lead, but I think I may be leaning more towards Colorado…but it is a close race. Of course, NY is never far behind.

Anyway, watching the Soprano’s tonite made me feel insignificant. The combination of writing, acting, cinematography, and music just left me in awe of the people involved. Only 10 episodes left in the current “season,” and 8 episodes cranking up in 2007 to end the series. The first two episodes have been amazing.

I’m in awe.

Looks like someone was shot here in town. Neck and/or face. Information is extremely limited at this time. Most likely source of additional info is at WCAV Newsplex Site.

I went out and did my eight mile run today. Third run in five days. I was feeling it by the end of this one, but my knees didn’t complain very much. The night was warm and humid, but flowers were popping up all over the place. There was a nice breeze blowing as the sun was heading down. Storms may roll through tonite, and spring temperatures may return.

Yesterday I went out shopping and bought my first Tivo-ish device. I got the DirecTV HD DVR. I must say, I like it. It has some issues that I sort of hacked to get around, but being able to record one HD program while watching the other is rather nice. While out shopping I also bought a Sonicare toothbrush, a new “fancy” alarm clock that holds my iPod and does lots of cool stuff with good speakers, and several lamps. I’m trying to remember how to spend money and make an overall improvement to my life.

Therein lies the challenge. It is always easy to think about getting things, but I tend to think too much and nothing ever happens. I’m getting sick of that. Between shopping, putting together lamps and new techno-geeky things yesterday, and doing a ton of house cleaning I was wiped out by the end of the day. I got some new things, but there was far more purging going on. The pile going out is so much larger than the pile coming in. And not all of it is physical. I’m also working on changing the mental side of things. More on that in a future post. Cleaning house is definitely both a mental and physical challenge.

Trying to improve conditions in your own life is so tough. It is always easy to look at others and say do this, or do that…but when doing it for yourself it is a different story. This spring/summer I’ll be spending a lot of energy on this current task…we’ll see how it goes.

On a warm sunny afternoon a beautiful young model sat on the mall and promoted a vegan/vegetarian way of life. This was her 6th (and last) stop on the tour and it went off as scheduled at noon as was first reported by The Hook. She thought this was much nicer than Lansing where it was 7 degrees during the protest.

There were more police and journalists than onlookers due to the fact that it was a nearly perfect day for outdoor lunch dining. I hope no one was eating any meat.

The first race of the year (for me) was this morning. A mere 8 kilometers. Most years I don’t have a very good time in this race, since often there is a winter before running begins. Winter avoided us this year, so I didn’t fully get out of a running rhythm…thus a pretty good time.

Total time, 36:30. First mile 7 minutes, second mile 7 minutes, 3rd mile 7 minutes, 4th mile 8:30, and last mile 7 minutes. That 4th mile did me in. It was almost all uphill. I really started to feel the 8 mile run I’d run on Thursday (I really overdid it on that Thursday run). Today was also rather warm (already 65 at 10am).

I was hoping to get a 7:45 pace during the run today but was down around 7:18/mile. I’m now debating what pace I should to go for on the 10 miler in two weeks (I think that is when it is). Maybe shoot for a 7:30 pace. That sounds tough. Guess I’ll find out then.

Now, time to shower, rest, and then start in on some spring cleaning.

TheHook.net has a posting that a nude activist for PETA will be on the downtown mall on Monday for lunch.

Since it will be sunny and 80 here in the early spring I’m sure I’ll be out wandering around for lunch, so if there is anything of interest I’ll be sure to capture the Kodachrome moment…or at least some digital pixels…

Does PETA really think the village is a place that anyone will notice? Whenever I do work for people elsewhere in the country they always ask me how life is in North Carolina. Oh well. The locals will notice. At least 20 people.

Without a doubt the most debated street on the downtown mall (in the past 20 years) may get opened up. Or at least that is the lastest rumor. We’ll see if it actually happens. It was estimated this would almost cost $1 million to open this one block, which seems odd, since trucks already use it for delivery.

Since the day I moved here it was rumored that we would be getting a modern movie theater. In seven years that is still just a rumor.

The streets are packed with people today. Almost 80 outside. Downright hot. Winter to summer. Spring was pre-empted this year due to low ratings last year.

I think I mentioned this the other day…I started doing the “stair machine” at the gym recently. Those stairs just don’t stop. If you rest you get crushed by them. Today was a really long day at work and then I hit the gym and started the 30 minute endeavor of stairs. They crushed me. I’m exhausted. A half a glass of wine and I already feel like I’m entering la-la land.

Tomorrow will be 70 so I’ll do 8 miles after work. Then rest on Friday (with a few martinis), and then run the 8k on Saturday morning. I’ll let you know if I survive.